A former Yale University student spoke to FOX News Digital after suing the institution for alleged defamation after he was expelled following rape allegations, of which he was acquitted in criminal court.
"I have been at war since 2015," said Saifullah Khan, a former foreign student originally from Afghanistan, who attended the Ivy League school on a full scholarship. The defamation case against Yale began in 2019, and over the summer Khan was able to include his accuser, Jane Doe, as a defendant in a landmark legal decision that can potentially have implications for further civil lawsuits against accusers.
As a result of the allegations raised against him, Khan said he has faced "significant effects."
"I have not seen my mom, my dad and my nephews and nieces for eight years now… Yale had initiated deportation procedures with ICE at the Department of Homeland Security. And so my immigration until this day is in jeopardy," he said. "I have been in limbo for pretty much eight years."
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"At the criminal trial, I was found not guilty. So I don't have any dark clouds looming over my head from that perspective where I could face prison. However… reputation-wise, career-wise, everything is gone. And so I'm slowly clawing back. However, once the ‘Scarlet Letter’ is attached to your name it just never goes away, especially if your name is public or she gets to be Jane Doe in this entire scenario."
In 2015, Khan said he had a flirtatious but friendly relationship with 21-year-old fellow Yale student, Doe. Khan said on the night in question he took her out to dinner, they later went to a party and then had consensual sex in her room. Doe alleged to the university during a Title IX investigation that she was a victim of an assault, and that Khan had taken advantage of her while she was intoxicated.
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"She and I flirted quite a bit for weeks… We were essentially dating but in a very casual way. She would send me Shakespearean sonnets. She would send me… hearts and so on… I honestly didn't think much of it. It was not special. I had been on similar dates before… It was a normal, just fun evening," Khan said.
Khan said he believed, but could not be certain since he couldn't read minds, that Doe wanted more out of the relationship and was ashamed about the one-night-stand, which he regarded as casual and "transactional."
"I'm not in her head," he said. "I don't know what her thinking is, but to the best of my understanding, she felt that she could get a big relationship out of it with me because I was the popular kid on campus and folks liked me… For me, it was purely transactional. And I think that dismay and regret led to the false accusation because she did not want to simply only have sex, but she never, ever communicated that."
After Khan was notified of the accusations and how Yale police were looking for him, he packed a bag and pondered suicide. He went to a bridge and said he "almost jumped."
"It was just intense immediate trauma. I was discombobulated. I was shocked. It was horrifying," he said.
"Once the plaintiff was accused of sexual misconduct, the university, without an inquiry of any sort, suspended the plaintiff from campus, rendering him homeless while thousands of miles from his family," the lawsuit said.
"To be discarded so harshly… It's not even like I did anything. And that's what was so difficult. And so I recognized that at that moment how would people believe me? Who would believe me? And I almost jumped. And memories of my mother helped me and reminded me to not do that. And because I thought that it would be selfish. And it's selfish because I could take away the pain that I was suffering through, but I would be giving permanent pain to my loved ones. And so I didn't do it. So I just told myself, 'F--k it. I'll fight it.'"
The incident occurred as Yale faced scrutiny from President Obama's Department of Education for how it handled sexual assault under Title IX, according to the lawsuit.
"The university has in recent years been subjected to regulatory and public relations scrutiny over how it handles claims of sexual misconduct by male students and male employees against female students and female employees," the lawsuit said.
Under Obama-era Title IX rules, lowered the standard of evidence for finding guilt as "more likely than not," but both the accused and accusers have complained about shoddy investigations and biased tribunals.
The Title IX law, enacted in 1972, forbids discrimination based on sex in education. It was once seen as a measure to ensure equity in college sports, but after Obama decried the "rape crisis," the DOE's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued several "Dear Colleague" letters starting in 2011.
The letters directed college administrations to tackle the sexual assault issue internally – and prove on paper they were doing so – or risk losing their federal funding.
But Khan argues that colleges are not unbiased institutions, and they should therefore not be able to yield governmental power to adjudicate criminality and guilt.
"If the college just dealt with this properly and dismissed her complaint and not destroyed my life, then I would have finished my neuroscience and continued with my startups," he said.
The "Dear Colleague" letter discouraged some cross-examination of the accused. Khan's legal team argued that Doe's allegations during the university's Title IX proceedings weren't quasi-judicial since they did not offer cross-examination, clearing the legal pathway for her to become a defendant in the $110 million defamation case against Yale and its administrators for the sexual assault allegations.
The Connecticut Supreme Court ruling meant the statements made in the school hearing could be subject to a defamation claim.
FOX News Digital contacted Yale University for comment. A spokesperson said, "The University is committed to creating a campus environment for its students, faculty, and staff that is welcoming, safe, and respectful. An integral part of this commitment is providing a clear procedure for reporting sexual misconduct and supporting all parties through each step of the complaint process."
"The university works to educate both parties and their advisors, regarding respectful standards of decorum at every stage. And resources for support, such as Title IX Coordinators and the Sexual Harassment and Assault Response & Education Center, are available to all parties throughout the process. Much of the Procedures of the University-Wide Committee on Sexual Misconduct are subject to federal regulations. Yale’s sexual misconduct procedures are designed to be both compliant with the law and fair to all parties," the spokesperson said.
The Khan's lawsuit targeted the university's administrators, President Peter Salovey, deans Jonathan Halloway and Marvin Chun, David Post and Mark Solomon, and others.
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If you are having thoughts of suicide, call or text 988 to reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline or go to SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for a list of additional resources.
